I adopted Chowder in August of 2007. He was grossly obese - 55 lbs! The vet said he was the fattest Sheltie she had ever seen! I'm not sure of his entire history, but it would seem that he was the second Sheltie in a family, the first one of which had already been given up for adoption. Evidently, the family had a new baby and the mother would not teach the child to leave the dog alone - so when the baby got nipped, the dog was sent away. He went to live with his "grandmother". She did her best, but could not take care of him ~ for one thing, she wasn't really watching how much he ate ~ so was almost killing him with food.
He must have been obedience trained, as he is THE MOST WELL MANNERED dog I've ever had - and I've had lots of herding dogs, including another Sheltie... all of whom learned quickly but none was ever as well-trained as Chowder.
He's losing weight and is down to about 40 lbs. with 5 to go, and has lots of energy, but I think he's got a bit of arthritis due to his past weight problem. He turned 5 in September. He lives with his big brother, Red, a rescue Rhodie mix and 4 cats, on 4 acres. We have our moments, but for the most part, everyone gets along very well. I'm trying to teach Chowder to chase squirrels - he hasn't quite got that down yet, but he's great at chasing birds! And he sure shakes the life out of his stuffed squirrel.
Chowder's "siblings' :)
big brother ~ Red and next-to-youngest cat ~ Sweeper
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